Roland Martin On Baltimore Unrest: “We Must Hold Elected Officials And Ourselves Accountable”

Roland Martin, host of NewsOne Now shared his perspective of the situation in Baltimore in the wake of Monday night’s unrest and rioting following the funeral of Freddie Gray.

“We should not be in a situation where we’re having to repair our city and clean up our city after we’ve had windows busted out, after we’ve had cars set on fire because the reality is some places Baltimore have not been fixed since the initial riots in 1968.”

Martin went on to point out the most important issue that needs to be addressed is “accountability.”

“Not just from the governor or from the mayor or from the police commissioner or from any elected official or from the community officials, but also of ourselves.”

“It is our responsibility to understand that at the end of the day it’s our sons and daughters who are the ones that are coming home in body bags. They’re the ones who are having to endure the kind of abuse from police.”

Martin continued, saying there are many individuals that may be saying they want to do something, adding that if you are not registered to vote, you can’t serve on a jury if an officer is brought to trial.

“You can’t even serve on a grand jury unless you’re registered to vote. Not just that, but you have to actually vote and once you vote for somebody you have to hold them accountable as well.”

Watch Martin’s perspective to see what else he had to say about the unrest in Baltimore in the video clip above.